Israel continues to get away with murder

If the Israeli government thought it could get away with an act of piracy on the high seas, then it was because it had a green light from Washington and other capitals around the world to act with impunity in defiance of international law.

When the Israelis sent out warnings that it would intercept the aid convoy which set out from Turkey in a bid to break the blockade, the rest of the world said nothing. Worse, Turkey and Greece continued with plans for joint military exercises with Israel which only after the killing of at least 10 activists, who resisted when the ships were attacked, have they called off.

Washington officially supports the barbaric blockade of Gaza imposed in 2007. President Obama has simply continued with the policy of his predecessor which has created the biggest prison camp in the world aka Gaza. European Union governments, by refusing to recognise Hamas after its election victory, have sustained this policy.

Obama's support for the rogue state of Israel predictably led to a watering down of the Security Council http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10201202.stm statement issued today. It condemns only “those acts” that led to the assault, avoiding the mention of Israel directly, and asks for an “impartial investigation”. A call for the end of the blockade is noticeable by its absence. What a farce the United Nations has become, its resolutions demanding an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza gathering dust since they were passed decades ago.

With the help of the deeply reactionary Mubarak regime in Cairo, Israel has forced most of Gaza’s 1.5 million people into abject poverty and ill health through a blockade that resembles a medieval siege. Last year, a military assault killed more than 1,500 Palestinians and destroyed key plant and infrastructure. According to Amnesty International, the people of Gaza are victims of a systematic act of collective punishment by Israel’s government.

The blunt truth is that the present Israeli government has no intention of conceding an inch on the right of the Palestinians to self-determination. Knowing that Washington is a paper tiger on the matter, the Israelis continue apace with settlement building and the takeover of East Jerusalem.

Prime minister Netanyahu was on his way to Washington when the attack on the ships took place. He was due to agree to talks about talks with the Palestinians. Of course, he turned back en route to deal with the crisis that has resulted. How convenient the attack proved!

Netanyahu and company can't solve the problem of Gaza peacefully because that would call into question the whole basis for the state of Israel and the occupation, which is a key factor in the growth of the economy. Settlement building is big business – and it is done with cheap Palestinian labour.

But the gap between rich and poor in Israel itself is wider than ever. Palestinians inside the country are the poorest – and are now flexing their muscles. The authorities are currently prosecuting an Israeli Arab leader of the boycott movement, Ameer Makhoul. He was tortured into making a false confession, and is now on trial for his life.

In the end it is only action within Israel itself and a change of direction on the part of the Palestinians through the emergence of a new leadership that can change the situation. Ultimately, the “humanitarian” campaigns do not provide the answers. Palestinians need a fresh framework for the Intifada, which connects with the poor in Israel and exposes the relationship between Zionism and capitalism.

Hamas and Fatah between them have led the Palestinians into a dead end. A new, united way forward based on a single, secular state in the region for both Jew and Arab is not only necessary but is now patently the only realistic option.

Paul Feldman
Communications editor

Kurds and unions victims of Turkish state repression

While the media is full of reports of the arrest of alleged coup plotters in Turkey, the military top brass will be reassured by the continuing state repression of not only the Kurdish minority but also the harsh treatment meted out to their legal representatives.

On Christmas eve, there was the mass arrest of some 80 leading members of the new Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). The action followed the banning of the popular pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) on by Turkey’s Constitutional Court. Those detained are all former pro-Kurdish deputies or mayors.

Earlier this year, a 15-year-old girl, a Turkish Kurd, named Berivan, was jailed in Turkey for nearly eight years – reduced on appeal from thirteen and a half years - after being convicted of "terrorist" offences. She was arrested at a demonstration in the south-eastern city of Batman in October 2009.

She was found guilty of "crimes on behalf of an illegal organisation" after prosecutors alleged she had hurled stones and shouted slogans. She was also convicted of attending "meetings and demonstrations in opposition to the law" and "spreading propaganda for an illegal organisation".

According to the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, under counter-terrorism legislation introduced in 2006, Turkey has been trying juveniles as adults, and jailing them for up to 50 years. Recent official figures have revealed that there are currently 2,622 minors in Turkish prisons. According to the Diyarbakir Human Rights Association, some 737 minors have been charged under the counter-terrorism legislation since its introduction.

Between 1959 and 2009, Turkey was the worst violator of the European Convention on Human Rights, with almost 19% of all violations, and 2,295 judgements issued against it. Turkey also had the highest proportion of violations in 2009, with 347 out of 1,625 negative rulings. The right most commonly violated was the right to a fair trial. Turkey was also condemned in 30 cases of inhumane or degrading treatment.

Then this month came the news that the lawyers, Irfan Dündar and Firat Aydinkaya, who act on behalf of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, have been sentenced in Istanbul for "spreading propaganda for a terror organisation". The Istanbul 10th High Criminal Court gave both lawyers prison sentences of ten months each, suspended for five years.

Ocalan's lawyers were sentenced because of the appearance of a newspaper article entitled "A chance for Öcalan" published in Özgür Gündem on 29 and 30 April 2009. The court stated that the article included phrases made by Dündar and Aydinkakya such as "The lawyers conveyed Öcalan's opinion on the developments within KONGRA-GEL [Kurdish national movement PKK]", "He is experiencing the pain of change" and "Öcalan's opinions are important for an enduring peace".

In a statement, the Haldane Society said: “Informed by the findings of a number of its members who participated in an International Delegation to Turkey in February 2008, the Haldane Society firmly believes that the sentence reflects the intolerable conditions under which lawyers acting for the Kurdish leader have been subject since his apprehension in 1999 and the subsequent trial.

“Unfortunately, it is nothing new for not only have they been subjected to various forms of harassment and intimidation while performing their normal professional duties and seeking to represent their client, they have been treated as terror suspects themselves. The fact is that Turkish law as presently constituted permits such charges to be routinely brought against lawyers simply for putting across the case of their client.”

In a past period, British trade unions and human rights organisations campaigned against taking holidays in Spain when it was under the Franco dictatorship. It’s about time this tradition was resurrected in relation to Turkey and not just because of the persecution of the Kurds. On 7 December, virtually the entire executive committee as well as some local branch office officials of Nakliyat-Is, a trade union which organises transport workers, were arrested and the union headquarters raided. What is the Trades Union Congress waiting for?

Paul Feldman
Communications editor